After scoring an Africa Movie Academy Award nomination for her role in ‘Heart of Men’, the next announcement that scripted Yvonne Nelson’s fame was a one-year ban from Gollywood.
Nelson, whose resume at the time included the 2008 drama ‘Material Girl’ received the ban notice on the premise that she had disrespected film producer Abdul Salam Mumuni. According to multiple sources that reported the news in November 2010, an altercation ensued between Yvonne and Salam on the production of ‘4 Play Reloaded’ after certain merits granted cast mate Jackie Appiah did not sit well with the actress.
Per the submission of the Producers Association of Ghana (initiators of the ban), Yvonne’s one-year sideline was an accumulation of several alleged incidents that had occurred between the actress and other unmentioned producers from past years. Aside from the local industry ban, letters were also sent to film producers in Nigeria not to cast the actress in any of their productions for the next year.
The clause stated, no film from Nigeria, which stars Yvonne will be promoted, distributed and premiered in any of the then vibrant cinemas in Ghana. The ban was made effective from October 2010 to October 2011. The entire film market had turned dark on the buzzing A-lister, whose shot at fame came to fruition with just a single movie ‘Princess Tyra’.
Despite the absence of the established actress from the screens, her comeback a year later was by records the best time ever in her career. She starred in big-budget projects in and outside Ghana including the Abdul Salam features ‘Losing You’ and ‘Cheaters Vacation’.
On the backdrop of her on-demand moment by top film executives, Yvonne flipped her industry sheet to producing. In a solo move, she produced and starred in ‘The Price’, which starred colleague power house Majid Michel as her love interest. The following year came ‘Single and Married’, a romantic comedy that fed on the dirty secrets and dramas most marriages go through. The film received impressive reviews from audience, prompting a sequel development in 2014 ‘Single, Married and Complicated’.
On Nollywood’s top 100 grossing films of all time, Yvonne’s third production ‘House of Gold’ features at No. 88 with N15,454,400, making it the second production from Ghana to reach such status on the chart. Yvonne Okoro’s 2016 comedy ‘Ghana Must Go’ leads the Gollywood line up at No.54 with N32,000,000.
At a time when Gollywood is slowly fading out from globally recognized industries, Yvonne’s YN banner has in store seven films and a single series ‘Heels and Sneakers’ under its belt. Two of her films ‘Fix Us’ and ‘Sin City’ are locked on Netflix, the international streaming platform, which has over 200 million subscribers.
